Lights of Yule
by ThatOtakuInClass
Summary: When Mrs. Conductor has to spend the Winter Solstice in the Arctic...again, the day changed from frustrating to well...bad! But then something truly magical happened {(Literally)}. (Rated T for the mere mention of blood, better safe than sorry, also Human AU,).


_**Authour's Note: Sorry if it's cheesy, this was extrememly rushed i only started on this yesterday! Sorry,**_

Mrs. Conductor let out a heavily frustrated sigh as she just finished repairing engine number 7 for the fourth time that evening.

This was definitely testing her patience, it would've been easier to just scrap and replace her, the engine was losing the battle against time, she didn't run like she used to. Dear Sally was asked to take a look at her in the North Pole, Sally said 'okay' because she thought it was a basic check up on the engine, but no. She had to repair the engine and bring her back to Troodon Town when she's up and running in tip top shape again.

This made Sally annoyed, she did have plans to spend Yule with her family back at Troodon Town, but given her current situation that was now out of the question. well there's nothing i can do now except get this done she thought to herself as she tried to see if the engine would start.

The engine sputtered before dying out again "Darn it!" Sally growled, she was usually a very happy & cheerful woman. But obviously that wasn't happening today. She couldn't help but remember the previous year when she helped Mr. Lambeosaurus & Mr. Pteranodon with their journey going back home in time for the end of Yule, That was very fun.

The engine worked better then, but now it just sat there in the roundhouse not working anymore.

"Sorry lass, but it seems that your time on the rails is getting closer to an end! I know it seems bad, but...but there are only so many times i can fix you!" Sally said as she gently caressed the train engine's front wheel. "There's only one way that i can tell them that there's nothing more i can do! But the train only comes here once every few days." She said to herself. "People rarely come this far up North this time of year! Especially during the Winter Solstice," she added. She felt kind of sad, the train engine that sat before her was the very train her Grandfather worked on when he was a conductor. "That seems like a long time ago now...," she said quietly. She decided that she needed to warm up a bit; she got up, brushed the snow off her skirt and walked towards the train station. She made sure she was still wearing her brooch, she sighed in relief that she still had it. She had her brooch since she was young; it was a gift from her Grandmother, Olivia Troodon.

She opened the door then closed it, the world was so quiet since she was alone, the Northern Troodons were nowhere to be seen or heard. And she was the only one in the entire train station. "At least some people would be glad to spend Yule with their families." She said quietly, she took off her coat before she brewed herself a cup of tea and sat in a chair by the fire. "Might as well get a bit comfortable," she said to herself as she let her hair down. {(Literally)}.

The long, curly, bright orange locks fell perfect in place. Her brown eyes looked almost enchantingly into the fire. The cold brought rosey red to her cheeks; it made her look unrealistic since her skin was very pale. Her lips were naturally rosey red now from the wind burn. "Looks like it's just myself here for Yule," she said as she took another sip from her tea.

Almost an hour had passed of her sitting by the fire before she noticed the noise the windows rattling against the wind. She got up from the chair "Well, looks like i have to shut her down for the night, don't want the wind to force the doors open," she said almost confidently to herself. She put on her dark red coat with the white fluffy linen on it. It was very warm. She didn't bother with a hat, as she went to open the door; the wind shoved her to the ground very quickly! Before she could process what was going on she felt a terrible sting & something warm run down her cheek.

Gently, with her fingers she touched her temple then pulled her hand away so she could see what's on her face. Blood.

She looked around and noticed she knocked over a table. "I should get that done now, before i get hurt by something that isn't a table," Sally said.

She managed to get herself up from the ground and outside, she decided it was probably better to close the covers for the windows in the top floor first. Since the windows on the top floor were sealed, she had to do it from the outside. This was one of those days that she felt like she shouldn't have worn something with a petticoat.

She grabbed the ladder and managed to get up before another microburst happened. "Take advantage of the calm Sally, your safety might depend on it," she whispered to herself as she closed the window covers. She was hit with a violent wind.

"DAMN IT, NO!" she screamed as she grabbed the first solid thing she got her hands on.

"This day just keeps getting worse! Doesn't it?" She asked herself.

She didn't remember what else happened, all she knew was that she was now on the ground, aching almost all over her body. She was in disbelief, where was she?

She looked around & there was nothing she could do, she didn't recognize any of her surroundings.

"i guess i shouldn't have said those words then," She said. She knew that she should stay laying down in case she got hurt, but given she was alone in the Arctic there was no way she would give it even a questioning thought. She had to go back, there were no ifs, ands, or buts, she had to find her way back to the station, which was her shelter, her only shelter in this wintery world.

She got up to her feet and almost let out a pain filled scream. She was not sure the source of the excruciating pain it felt like it was all over her body. * _This day keeps getting worse & worse!*_ She thought to herself. Her lower back, her hips and her upper legs started to hurt less.

 _*Well, i guess those are the places i don't want to hurt badly the most, let's just hope that my back won't hurt more later*._ Her mind added. She looked around; the sky had the beautiful aurora borealis shining in bright blues, pinks, greens, & aquamarines. _* Maybe i can take it as a good sign or something*_ she thought _._

She looked on the ground hopefully to find tracks on the ground, even if they were filled in a bit, it was still something to hold onto. But nothing, she looked around again, but everything seemed undisturbed, untouched by nature, there wasn't even a fresh dusting of snow. * _There is no possible way for wind to be powerful enough to pick up someone & carry them to where ever only the higher power/s knows without leaving some kind of physical damage*_ she thought. The only disturbance she found was the very ground she was laying down on just moments before. She looked again and noticed a hill.

Hey, better than nothing! You might even be able to get a better idea to where you are and even possibly even see the train station! Sally hated it when she heard that little voice in her head, she knew it was giving false hope. "I don't want to give myself false hope," Sally said to herself.

You won't know until you make the effort! Staying put won't help your situation either! You're possibly hurt! And that won't go away on its own, try to get going before your adrenaline wears off! She knew it herself "That little voice is right. The longer i stay here, & contemplate my next move. The more trouble i'll be in later!," She finally put herself in agreeance with her mind. "Finally something both my mind and soul can agree on! Let's get going!" She said loudly as she pridefully placed her hands on her hips.

As she climbed the hill the more she noticed how much pain she was in. When she got up to the top, she tied her hair up into a bun, the braids held it in place since she had no pins. It definitly wasn't the style she was used to wearing, but it was better than nothing.

She took a better look at her surroundings this time.

Luckily the seemingly eternal night had the bright northern lights, the stars and moon to provide some kind of light. That along with the assistance of the fact that she's nocturnal, so she could see well in the dark. She could make out in the extremely far distance some kind of structure. Looking up into the sky, she looked for certain stars or star constellations, and then she found it. It was possibly Sirius; at least she thinks that its Sirius since it pointed South. All she knew that it wasn't pointing North.

She had to admit, if only she took up on her nephew, Sydney Sinovinator's offer when he offered to teach her about stars and how to navigate with them.

She looked towards the structure again. * _I better start walking, that structure is my only hope and goal right now*_ she thought as she started to walk towards the structure, with her possibly twisted ankles.

The pain was starting to become intolerable, she hissed when her foot bent the wrong way. "Ouch...ugh, today is just not my day," Sally said to herself.

She almost felt like she was getting nowhere, she definitely knew that she wasn't going to have a good winter solstice.

After a bit of a walk (being that 3 hours) of straight walking, she started to feel a bit, tired. "A small break couldn't hurt…." She said, sounding exhausted. _*NO! I can't think about slowing down! My body is starting to hurt more…I have to make it there and soon.*_ She thought anxiously.

She started to feel hopeless and weak; all she was hoping for was that this was just a terrible dream. And that she would awake at home, or in the same chair she sat in just hours ago. _*This isn't a dream, I have to keep going…I have to*_ She realized that the only light now, were the dancing lights in the sky above her.

Her body ached so much, and her neck started to feel like it was burning, her neck…started…to …burn? Her almost frozen hands touched the source of the burning, her brooch…It was like it was on fire! She almost ripped it off her neck and dropped it into the snow; it let out a hissing noise. "Ouch!" she almost yelled as she ripped the gloves off her hands and shoved them into the snow.

She looked at her brooch; it wasn't its usual dark greenish blue, no. It was glowing a dark reddish orange, but that wasn't the weird part! There were all these symbols, glowing a bright yellow there were two downwards pointing triangles one had a horizontal line in it, and two triangles pointing upwards, again just like one of the downwards triangles, one of the upwards ones had a horizontal line as well, a circle appeared every now and then.

"What the HECK?! WHAT IS GOING ON!?" she almost screamed to no one. She had to see what it was doing. The cycle of triangles and a circle kept going until the cycle stopped with an upwards pointing triangle with a horizontal line in it, it glowed a bright blue before fading away and the brooch returning to its original colour. Sally just stood there and stared at her brooch before speaking.

"What? Air? What does that have to do with _ANYTHING_?" she asked herself aloud.

She was at first hesitant to pick up her own brooch and put it back on.

"I must be seeing things, there's no way I saw that! Right? I know I can have a very active imagination, but seeing and experiencing that, that…just doesn't happen to people! Can it?" She started to wonder about it. She looked around again, and looked on the ground to look at her tracks to see what direction she was walking. "Right, South! I have to head back to the station! Or at least, to the structure!" She said to reassure herself. She started to walk again it seemed very tiring; while she was walking she started to think of ways in explaining on how Engine Number 7 could be… decommissioned.

"It's sad to see an old girl like her retire!" she began. "I'm going to miss her, if I remember correctly, Grandfather worked on that very train as a Conductor when he was younger!" She somehow missed the days when she was child around this time of year! All the lovely memories of how happy & excited she was to see her Grandparents, especially when her husband's uncle, Alfred Conductor often told stories there, just to embarrass her Grandfather, Terrance.

 _'I remember those good ol' days! Remember Terrance? The day you wore a KILT? The wind raised his kilt up to his chin! Boy, I never saw a Troodon lad run away from some lovely ladies so fast in my life! You want to know why Sue, Sally, & Susan? Your Grampa wasn't wearing a thing underneath!' _She remembered what happened next in that conversation.

 _'ALFRED! You promised to keep that a SECRET!' 'Oh calm down Terrance, the girls can keep secrets! Right girls, at least wait until good ol' Terry is in his grave before you go off an' tellin' people about his story!'._ She couldn't help but chuckle at the memory, but everything else, made tears start to burn her eyes, she missed her Grandparents, made her feel how lucky she was to meet her own grandchildren so often. The reason why she didn't visit her Grandparents often as a child was because how strict her own mother was.

"I wonder how they are now. Now that they're together in the afterlife…." Sally said quietly as she wiped tears from her eyes. Before she knew it she felt a warm presence, it was….comforting… almost like how her Grandmother, Olivia was each time she embraced Sally when she was scared when she was a young Troodon. She looked up to see a pale orange light that seemed to have just descended from the skies. 'Sally dear, please, don't be afraid…' the voice was indeed heard but why was she hearing it? "Wh…Who, I mean….Nana?" she asked to the open air. 'Yes, don't be afraid dear child, you're safe! Follow me dear! You're okay' her grandmother's voice was heard again. Sally couldn't help but approach the small ball of light.

"Nan…Is that…you?" Her voice couldn't help but shake. The small ball seemed to brighten 'Of course, Dear, I know you're lost! We've been looking for you for hours! Come on Sally, your Grandfather & sisters are waiting at the station' the ball seemed to have spoken before it started to move towards the left of her and kept going. Sally wasted no time in following it. "Nan…I'm not as quick as I used to be! I'm hurt…or at least I think I'm hurt…" She said to the orb. 'It's okay dear, I'll slow down!' The orb now seemed to show intelligence. Sally smiled "Thanks Nan," she followed the orb further.

Sally finally noticed the train station after hours of walking and smiled brightly "I'm back!" She said happily. She turned to the orb "Thanks Nan! If you hadn't come by, I would've been walking for hours, and I definitely would've been in trouble!" 'I'm sorry I lied.' The voice was different now. Sally was now confused.

"Where's Nan?" She asked.

'She wasn't here to begin with! Olivia trusted you into my care ever since you inherited it!' The orb said.

"It?" Sally asked, now confused even more than before.

'The brooch! It holds magic! A type of magic that only you can control since you have it!' the orb said.

"Okay?" She said.

'Anyways you enjoy the rest of your Yule! The train would arrive sometime in the next few days! I best recommend you stay in bed for the majority of the rest of your stay!' the orb said before allowing Sally to hold it then. It disappeared.

"I wonder what that was about!" She said to herself. She went inside for the rest of the night.

The morning came and the light shone through the blinds. The sound of a train pulling into the station awoke Sally. "I just have to get some supplies from the station quickly," a faint male voice was heard before the door opened revealing the bright sun outside.

The young male Troodon chuckled jokingly before he saw the person in the chair. "Mother! How are you doing?" Mr. Conductor started as he approached Sally who had stayed in the chair by the fireplace since the previous night. She let out a quiet groan as she opened her eyes. "Sonny?" She asked "Is that really you?" She wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her. "Yes mother, it's me! I'm surprised to see you here!" He said. "Not as much as I'm surprised on that my ELEMENTARY school aged Grandson is OBVIOUSLY old enough to drive a submarine, alone, unattended," She responded. "Yeah I guess you prove a point Mother!" even the Conductor admitted that was kind of foolish that his nephew was considered to be old enough to drive the sub by himself. Mr. Conductor realized his mother changed the subject.

"M-MOTHER! You changed the subject!" He almost yelled, his face bright red.

She couldn't help but laugh, but she soon realized that laughing as hard as she usually did was too much as she quickly stopped laughing. This brought concern to her eldest child. "Mother, are you okay?" He asked. 'Oh, don't worry about me," Sally replied with her sweet tone of voice. He approached her to soon see the dried up blood on the left side of her head. "Mother! Did you get hurt?" Mr. Conductor was very worried. "Well," She began with a chuckle "I _was_ a bit clumsy last night! But it doesn't hurt anymore!" His face showed a bit of disbelief.

"It looks like it's a lot more than a _bit_ clumsy by the way you're acting Mother, You obviously got hurt somehow, I'll take you home," He offered. "Oh dear! I forgot about Number 7 in the roundhouse! I promised to fix her while I'm up here!" She realized. "Well, you're more important than an Engine! Besides the Winter Solstice celebrations aren't the same at home without you Mother! Plus Father is asking where you are." Sally couldn't help but smile. "Trevor's back from his travels from Apalachia? Already?" she asked with surprise. "Yes Mother, let's go home!" Mr. Conductor said as he helped his mother from her seat and onto the train.

She sat down in a comfortable seat in the dining car; the warm cup of tea was very welcoming! She looked as the afternoon sun began to set and the Northern Lights, surprisingly early decided to come out to play and dance faintly in the twilight sky.

"What did she mean by 'A type of magic that only you can control'? That makes zero sense!" She said to herself. She took another sip of her tea. "I wonder….Did anyone else experience anything like that?" She knew that she'll make her headache worse by thinking about it! "In fact, I might as well keep it to myself, otherwise everyone will think I've gotten even more mad than I already am," she said to herself very quietly.

She took another sip of her tea and decided that she would worry about it some other time. She was more than happy to spend the rest of the Winter Solstice with her family back home, especially given her….interesting and unlucky adventure.

 _The End._

 ** _I hope you enjoyed the story! This is a kick starter to the Magical Ladies stories!_**


End file.
